Review: A Beautiful Place to Die by Malla Nunn
Australian Author’s Debut Crime Novel Set in 1950s South Africa
In A Beautiful Place to Die (Macmillan, 2008) Swaziland born Australian author Malla Nunn has found a remarkable setting for detective fiction. Her recreation of 1950s South Africa under the new regime of apartheid lifts the novel above the run-of-the-mill whodunits.
A Beautiful Place to Die Overview
Called in to investigate a murder that he originally thinks is a hoax, Detective Emmanuel Cooper soon finds himself caught up in a case that involves race relations, small town politics and eventually the Security Branch of the South African police force.
Captain Willem Pretorius’ brutal murder leaves the small town of Jacob’s Rest reeling. His sons – Afrikaner farmers – are crying out for justice, but they do not know that their upstanding father was hiding a secret that would fly in the face of all their strongly held beliefs. For in this time, the newly instated Immorality Act could be enough to spark a murder.
Emmanuel must sidestep the social restrictions placed upon the various races in the town, in order to discover the clues that will lead him to the murderer. Assisting him is Pretorius’ boyhood companion Shabalala. The half-Zulu half-Shangaan police constable is an experienced tracker and a vital ally to Emmanuel.
Detective Sergeant Emmanuel Cooper
As the central character and moral compass in the crime genre, the detective is paramount. Emmanuel Cooper is likeable and principled which makes him very appealing to the modern reader. Although a white man of English and Afrikaans parents, Emmanuel is not a supporter of the state’s apartheid regime, and struggles with the restrictions that are placed upon him by his more cynical superiors. With his ability to speak Zulu, he is able to win Constable Shabalala’s trust and move between the town’s segregated native, coloured and white population.
Cooper is not without darkness. Nunn piques the reader’s interest in his character from the start of the novel. A man haunted by his own past, unravelling Emmanuel’s story becomes just as important as solving the mysteries surrounding Captain Pretorius’s murder.
Malla Nunn – About the Author
Born in Swaziland, Malla Nunn attended Florence Christian Academy, a “mixed race” boarding school, until the social and political atmosphere of South Africa forced her family to migrate to Western Australia in the 1970s. A writer and director of short films and corporate videos, A Beautiful Place to Die is her first novel.
By putting a face on the injustices that existed in South Africa during the early years of apartheid, the murder mystery at the heart of A Beautiful Place to Die gains an extra level of nuance.
A Beautiful Place to Die (ISBN: 978 1 4050 3877 5, 399 pages)
A Beautiful Place to Die by Malla Nunn
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